A data network configuration general implemented in business environments involves centralizing data storage at a data center and providing this data (e.g., via a server at the data center) to a plurality of client computing devices over a wide area network. The plurality of client computing devices may be located at one or more branches of the WAN. The branches may represent a plurality of computing devices communicatively coupled to each other using a local area network (LAN) that has at least one connection to the WAN. The LAN may be coupled to the WAN via a router or other bridging device as known in the art. In large corporate environments, the data center may be disposed remotely from the branch(es). Applications running on the client devices may require data from the data center (e.g., served via an application center at the data center) to operate. High data traffic on a wide area network (WAN) may generally reduce bandwidth and increase latency for requests for data over the WAN. This may slow down application response times at the computing devices in the branch office.
To help reduce the data traffic on wide area networks and improve bandwidth and latency, some businesses may implement a WAN optimizer system. Generally, a wide area network (WAN) optimizer system is hardware designed to reduce bandwidth consumption on the WAN. A goal of WAN optimizer systems is to reduce the amount of WAN bandwidth for carrying data traffic. Generally, WAN optimizers may operate to intelligently manage (using specific algorithms) the compression and transmission of data to the WAN and the retrieval of the data from the WAN. By compressing data traffic on the WAN, data traffic may be reduced with a corresponding decrease in congestion. As congestion is reduced on the WAN, router latency, jitter and packet loss are may also correspondingly decrease.
While existing WAN optimizer systems provide general improvements in WAN bandwidth, existing WAN optimizer systems may not be suited to handle encrypted data or provide end-to-end security. Moreover, existing WAN optimizer systems may require operation of interface hardware at both the data center and at each branch office, thereby incurring increased maintenance costs.